THE HIMALAYAN MAIL JAMMU Q FRIDAY Q FEBRUARY 12, 2021 11

James Anderson is getting better with age... Tsitsipas avoids Greek NEW DELHI, FEB 11: England’s veteran fast bowler James Anderson is being credited with bowling tragedy; Kenin crashes out one of the greatest overs in A Greek tragedy threat- last year's final. Test cricket as England beat ened to befall Stefanos Tsit- Kanepi kept up the pres- India by 227 runs in a fa- sipas at the Australian Open sure in the second set, in mous win in Chennai. on Thursday before the fifth which Kenin failed to South Africa pacer Dale seed steadied to fend off lo- muster up a single break Steyn has played down cal wildcard Thanasi Kokki- point, and the Estonian comparisons with England nakis 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1, 6- sealed her victory in em- pace spearhead saying that 7(5), 6-4 and reach the third phatic style with her 10th the bowler seems to be get- round. ace. ting better with age. The day after Nick Kyr- Watched by her coach fa- The right-arm seamer gios sent John Cain Arena ther Alex, Kenin gave a produced three wonderful into delirium with a quick wave to the sparse deliveries to dismiss Shub- thrilling comeback, 267th- crowd as she walked off man Gill, , ranked Greek-Australian court with her head bowed, and Rishabh Pant on day Kokkinakis appeared set for her title defence over. five of the first Test at the the boilover of the tourna- Next up for Kanepi is a MA Chidambaram Sta- ment when he threaded a third-round tie against dium. backhand down the line to Croatian Donna Vekic, who There were comparisons send the match into a fifth beat Argentine Nadia between the two fast "The only comparison re- we have seen. In his first Captain Joe Root said he set. Podoroska in her second bowlers as to how well they quired is that Jimmy is still over we saw three reasons,” could not remember a bet- It was not to be, though, round match on Thursday. have performed in Asian going and I'm watching India broadcast legend ter over in his career. as Tsitsipas captured the World number one Ash conditions but Steyn from my 20/20 sofa. He's a Harsha Bhogle tweeted. “In the context of this decisive break in the fifth Barty suffered a meltdown praised Anderson in a legend and seems to be get- “That’s why he’s the Eng- game it was huge,” he said game and held on grimly to on the brink of victory but quirky manner and said the ting better with age," Steyn land bowling (GOAT) ... one in a tribute to the 38-year- close out a four-hour 32- regathered herself to fend English bowler is still in his tweeted. of the best overs in Test old, whose three in minute epic in the steamy off local compatriot Daria prime while he is watching “There is a reason Jimmy cricket history,” wrote Piers the innings took him to 611 the matches on his sofa. twilight at Rod Laver Arena. up an endorsement deal breakthrough at Melbourne Gavrilova 6-1, 7-6(7) and Anderson is one of the best Morgan. in all Tests. The only player from from a workplace safety Park last year with a run to reach the third round of the Greece to reach a Grand firm. the final at the French Australian Open on Thurs- Slam semi-final, Tsitsipas The company got its Open, sprayed 22 unforced day. paid tribute to his friend money's worth as Kokki- errors in the 64-minute Barty, who came onto Kumble says Jaffer 'right' in Kokkinakis, who celebrated nakis took the first set, with contest against the experi- centre court with her left his first Australian Open Tsitsipas serving up a dou- enced Estonian. thigh heavily strapped, win in six years on Tuesday ble-fault on set point. Kenin has been reduced served for the match at 5-2 after battling injuries and but was broken twice in a quitting Uttarakhand job Tsitsipas knuckled down to tears on court on several illness. in the next two sets and was occasions since she came hail of unforced errors, al- NEW DELHI, FEB 11: "Thanasi is a great com- cruising to victory with a out of quarantine in Mel- lowing wildcard Gavrilova Spin legend Anil Kumble on petitor and a great fighter. break in the fourth before bourne and admitted she to drag the contest deep into Thursday extended support As you saw it was very diffi- Kokkinakis rallied and has been struggling to con- a tiebreak. to his former India team- cult facing him today," the closed out a thrilling tain her nerves at the Fortunately for Barty, mate Wasim Jaffer after the 22-year-old said on court. tiebreak with an exquisite prospect of defending the ti- Gavrilova reprieved her Cricket Association of Ut- "I just want to go for a backhand passing shot. tle. twice with unforced errors tarakhand (CAU) alleged nice bath right now, that's In the end, Tsitsipas sur- Kanepi, who reached the on set point and then that he had tried to force re- all I'm thinking." vived to set up a third round final of the Gippsland Tro- coughed up another on ligion-based selections as Tsitsipas set Melbourne's clash with Swede Mikael phy warm-up tournament match point to surrender on the state team's coach. huge Greek community Ymer. last week, was just the sort a steamy day at Rod Laver Jaffer, who quit as Ut- alight two years ago when "Despite the difficulty of of hardened veteran who Arena.Having destroyed tarakhand coach owing to a he shocked Roger Federer the match today I really en- would look to exploit any first round opponent Danka dispute with the state associ- on the way to the semi-fi- joyed being out here and mental frailties in her oppo- Kovinic 6-0 6-0 in 44 min- ation, on Wednesday re- nals at the Grand Slam. competing and showing the nent. utes, Barty said her slump jected allegations by the There was little love for world a really high quality of The Estonian played a against Gavrilova was par cricket association's offi- him from the Rod Laver tennis," said Tsitsipas, who solid, if unspectacular, for the course after missing cials that he favoured Mus- Arena crowd on Thursday, never dropped serve against match, breaking Kenin for almost the entire 2020 sea- lim players in the team. He however, with fans firmly the Australian. 3-1 in the opening set and son. got support from Kumble, a behind Adelaide-born Kokkinakis and his cheap never looking back after "I think it’s natural," the former India captain and Kokkinakis, the son of T-shirt left the court to a fending off three break top seed told reporters. coach who currently heads sociation's secretary for brought Maulvis (Muslim all-rounder, who has com- Greek immigrants. huge ovation, and the hope points in the next game. "I mean, I haven’t played a the ICC's cricket committee. non-deserving players" as religious scholars) to the peted in the IPL but hasn't With no apparent spon- of bigger things to come. "I served really well today, lot of tennis over the last 12 "With you Wasim. Did the reason. team's training. played for India yet. sorship from apparel giants, Reigning champion Sofia I think this helped a lot," the months. Obviously (I’m) the right thing. Unfortu- "...jo communal angle la- "First of all they said the In a tweet, he also said he Kokkinakis caused a stir Kenin crashed out of the 35-year-old said. going to have ebbs and nately it's the players who'll gaya (the communal angle Maulvis came there in a bio- "recommended when he wore a black, A$6 Australian Open in the sec- "My gameplan was to play flows, not only in your con- miss your mentor ship," that has been brought up), bubble and we offered na- for captaincy not Iqbal but ($4.65) Kmart T-shirt from ond round on Thursday, aggressive as I usually do." centration but your level of Kumble said in Twitter. that is very, very sad," Jaf- maaz (prayers). Let me tell CAU officials favoured a local shopping mall in his slumping to a 6-3, 6-2 de- Kenin slammed her play as well. The 42-year-old Jaffer, fer said in a virtual press you one thing, the Maulvi, Iqbal". first round match. feat at the hands of world racket into the ground in "It’s important to be able who played 31 Tests for In- conference on Wednesday. Maulana, who came on two Jaffer was appointed as Against Tsitsipas, he wore number 65 Kaia Kanepi on frustration after losing the to bring that back as often as dia and is a celebrated name "They levelled an allega- or three Fridays during the the head coach of the state a crisp white T-shirt but had Margaret Court Arena. first set but never looked possible. For a couple of in domestic cricket, said the tion that I am in favour of camp in Dehradun, I had team in June 2020. He had a small logo stitched onto The 22-year-old, who fol- anything like the player who games, I wasn’t able to do charge levelled by CAU's Iqbal Abdulla, I wanted to not called him. signed a one-year contract the sleeves, having picked lowed her Grand Slam beat Garbine Muguruza in that." secretary Mahim Verma in make Iqbal Abdulla as the "It was Iqbal Abdulla (Ut- with CAU. a media report, had caused captain, which is absolutely tarakhand player) who Uttarakhand won only him immense pain. wrong," he asserted. sought mine and the man- one out of their five matches Jaffer resigned on Tues- Will England drop Anderson for 2nd Test? The leading run-getter in ager's permission only for in the recent Syed Mushtaq day citing "interference and also dis- the Friday prayer," he said Ali Trophy -- the national NEW DELHI, FEB 11: bias of selectors and the as- After giving India a reality missed allegations that he referring to the 31-year-old T20 tournament. check in the opening Test, England will look to tighten their grip on the Anthony De Mello Trophy as the two Natarajan released from TN teams face off in the second Test that starts in Chennai on Saturday, February 13. squad following BCCI request While Joe Root's team put on a creditable an all- round show, the eventual- NEW DELHI, FEB 11: nament beginning Febru- ity of a shake up in the team India's newest pace sensa- ary 20. Tamil Nadu had re- is inevitable given the Eng- tion Thangarasu Natarajan cently won the Syed Mush- lish Cricket Board's rotation has been released from the taq Ali Trophy in policy due to bio-bubble-in- Tamil Nadu squad for the Ahmedabad. duced fatigue. Vijay Hazare Trophy one- The first of the five T20 Jimmy Anderson, who day tournament as the Internationals against bowled one of the finest BCCI wants him to stay England will be played on overs of pace in recent from Day 1 itself. Although obviously having this op- injured Zak Crawley, gave a fresh for the limited-overs March 12 in Ahmedabad times in the first Test, may Dom Bess was taken for a portunity coming his way decent showing. series against England while the first ODI will get a rest although he does- few by on Day 5 has given him a great focus While most of the Eng- next month, a top TNCA take place in Pune on n't seem keen on the forced of the opening Test, it looks over the last couple of land batsmen struggled official said on Thursday. March 23. downtime. improbable that Captain weeks,' said Silverwood. against R Ashwin's spin in "The BCCI and the In- The Tamil Nadu chief of 'When a batsman gets in Joe Root and Coach Chris With Root leading by ex- the second innings, Ben dian team management selectors S Vasudevan also rhythm and in form, they Silverwood will tinker with ample (218 and 40), Eng- Stokes (82 in the first in- wanted Natarajan to be confirmed the develop- want to just keep batting, the Jack Leach- Bess com- land's batting has been up nings) will look to score fresh for the white ball leg ment and said Natarajan keep that rhythm going, bination. to the mark, the only excep- more runs before we get to of the series against Eng- has been released from the and it's the same for bowl- With both spinners tak- tion being Daniel Lawrence the business end of the se- land. Keeping the Indian Vijay Hazare Trophy ing, you want to keep that ing 11 wickets among them who scored a duck and 18 in ries. team's interests in mind squad. in the team's victory on the first match. England will hope that going as much as possible,' we said yes," Tamil Nadu Natarajan had become Tuesday, Moeen Ali may In his Test debut series, Openers Rory Burns and Jimmy said after the first Cricket Association secre- the first Indian cricketer to have to wait his turn to re- Lawrence had done well on Dom Sibley provide them Test. tary R S Ramasaamy said. make his international de- turn to the playing eleven. the challenging tracks of Sri early momentum -- not just Anderson could make R S Jaganath Sinivas will but across all three for- Jos Buttler has flown Lanka, making decent occupying the crease but way for fellow veteran pacer take Natarajan's place in mats during the tour of Stuart Broad while Jofra home, as part of the ECB's scores while playing spin also scoring some runs. rotational policy. Donning deftly. He may get another Sibley grafted his way to the 20-member squad Australia. Archer is likely to retain his which will leave for Indore He played in the series- spot. the gloves in his place is Ben chance to prove himself in a half-century in the first in- on February 13. clinching Brisbane Test af- Early indications from Foakes who is likely to play India. nings while partnering a de- Natarajan was earlier in- ter making his maiden Chennai suggest that the the rest of the series. Making a comeback post a termined Root. Both open- cluded in a 20-man Tamil T20I and ODI appear- will see some turn 'Ben is looking good and shoulder injury, Ollie Pope, ers struggled though in the has been training hard and who was brought in for the second innings. Nadu squad for the tour- ances earlier on the tour.